From the Army of the Apalachicola

Dear Brigadier General Schroedel and Mr. Fuller:
This is the message I wanted to communicate to you and the others at our breakfast meeting this morning that I promised to send in writing to you. I do believe after talking with you face to face this morning that you are also serious about others upstream searching out and securing alternate sources of water other than the ACF (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint) system for their growing needs. We hope you enjoy and get to know our Apalachicola.
Given the seriousness of fresh water flow down the ACF system to the National Marine Estuary of Apalachicola Bay, the City of Apalachicola is compelled to speak directly and clearly without some of the niceties to the ACOE whom we have treated as our friends and welcomed for centuries.
On behalf of our people and this National Marine Estuary that we, the United States, Florida and our local governments have spent billions of dollars and many years to preserve, we ask why the ACOE has not changed your IOP (Interim Operating Procedures) on the ACF to comply with the mandate issued by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Southeastern Federal Power Commission, Inc. decided earlier this year in the District of Columbia.
We also ask you what changes to the storage, use and flow of the ACF would be made by the ACOE implementing the decision in that case?
No message to you can be louder or more forceful concerning the resolve of Apalachicola on this issue and its importance to this area than that this small city has joined with the State of Florida in the battle against the Atlanta area interests and the ACOE in the Multidistrict Litigation in Jacksonville, where another hearing is set for July 21st.
We invite others (Riverkeepers, Franklin County and others in this area) to join with us to form the Army of the Apalachicola and participate in this battle in Jacksonville Federal Court until the Apalachicola and our Apalachicola Bay are protected and preserved. We may never have another chance to fight for our bay if we do not prevail.
Sincerely,
Van W. Johnson, Sr.
Mayor